News release – Friday, December 14, 2007

Conservationists demand action to save wild salmon from extinction in light of ground-breaking scientific report

Vancouver, BC. – The Wilderness Committee is calling on the BC provincial government to immediately shut down open-net cage salmon farms in British Columbia to protect wild salmon in light of a newly released article in the peer-reviewed and prestigious journal Science.

This new ground-breaking scientific study reports that wild pink salmon in the Broughton Archipelago, off northern Vancouver Island, will go extinct in four years because sea lice, emanating from salmon farms, are infecting young wild salmon and devastating their populations.

“The science is clear: sea lice from salmon farms are killing entire wild salmon runs. The provincial government must act now to shut down salmon farms to save our wild salmon from extinction,” says Geoff Senichenko. “The government cannot continue to drag its heels; we need action now before it is too late.”

Using 37 years of Federal Fisheries Department data, the researchers showed that pink salmon runs adjacent to salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago had 70 times higher sea lice infestation rates when compared to other runs not near salmon farms. In addition, infected wild juvenile salmon were commonly shown to have a mortality rate of 80% or more. The scientists went on further and predicted that if similar infection levels continue, population numbers will be reduced by 99% within four years.

“The Wilderness Committee is urging the provincial government to shut down salmon farms permanently right now before the wild juvenile salmon migration starts in late February,” said Senichenko.

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For more information contact:
Geoff Senichenko, Research Director, Wilderness Committee at 604-683-8220.

Click here to read the report in journal Science